First Maxima! New to the fourms and need help Plz!
01-26-2012, 08:53 PM
#1
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 67
First Maxima! New to the fourms and need help Plz!
Hey everyone! I'm Mike and I just bought my first Nissan ever and I went with a 95 maxima GLE. I'm really enjoying the car, but it does have some flaws that have left me grinding my teeth. I'm not a stranger to cars, I've worked on many but I need help with this one and I cant find anything in the search that answers it. I will start at the beginning and try to be as detailed as I can.
So when I bought the car there were some slight problems with it. The car would misfire or hiccup at a stop light or even in park after the car had been driven around for 10mins+ (note, the engine does not misfire or hiccup when first started.) Watching the RPM's it would only dip by 100 or so then come back. (I.E 800rpm then sudden dip to 700 then back to 800) When I run it WOT it takes a few seconds for the RPM's to build, once it hits 2800 the power returns and it starts to scoot, but still a lot of hesitation. No CEL what so ever.
My first thoughts were: Tune up. I opened up cylinder 1 to find that the plug was very fouled up and had a gas smell, I looked in the cylinder to find gas leaking from the injector. I take out the injector and the seals have blown. So 5$ later the injector has new seals and is no longer leaking gas into the cylinder. This at first seemed to fix a lot of the power issues but then it became apparent that it was not fixed. I proceeded to change the rest of the plugs. They all seemed very fouled up. I peaked in each cylinder to make sure there were no additional leaks, none were found.
Started the car up and it ran just fine. I pulled each of the coils to see if they were working. All of them when pulled caused the motor to shudder, so I'm pretty sure the coils work. When checking to see if they are receiving the right volts it read 13v.
After putting everything back, I proceeded to just drive it like normal when the CEL came on. I checked the code and it called for the front left O2 sensor. Over the next 3 days the CEL would come on then go off. Finally the ecu made up its mind and now the CEL is off.
I took video of the car at idle in P and in D. Please watch the whole clip b.c it take a few seconds for it to start doing it, but you'll notice it happens when the camera shakes and the lights dim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23qJjtwjU00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxzIf...ature=youtu.be
I'm out of ideas on what it could be. It either has to be that the coil or coils are going bad and giving off a weak spark. The timing is off or the tensioner is loose. Or one of the many sensors around the TB is going bad and giving off a faulty signal. Ive tried cleaning out the TB, and the MAF, but no luck.
I understand that I am new to this community and I'm not asking people to drop what they are doing to help. Any advice or anyone whose had the same problem who knows how to get this fixed would be greatly appreciated.
So when I bought the car there were some slight problems with it. The car would misfire or hiccup at a stop light or even in park after the car had been driven around for 10mins+ (note, the engine does not misfire or hiccup when first started.) Watching the RPM's it would only dip by 100 or so then come back. (I.E 800rpm then sudden dip to 700 then back to 800) When I run it WOT it takes a few seconds for the RPM's to build, once it hits 2800 the power returns and it starts to scoot, but still a lot of hesitation. No CEL what so ever.
My first thoughts were: Tune up. I opened up cylinder 1 to find that the plug was very fouled up and had a gas smell, I looked in the cylinder to find gas leaking from the injector. I take out the injector and the seals have blown. So 5$ later the injector has new seals and is no longer leaking gas into the cylinder. This at first seemed to fix a lot of the power issues but then it became apparent that it was not fixed. I proceeded to change the rest of the plugs. They all seemed very fouled up. I peaked in each cylinder to make sure there were no additional leaks, none were found.
Started the car up and it ran just fine. I pulled each of the coils to see if they were working. All of them when pulled caused the motor to shudder, so I'm pretty sure the coils work. When checking to see if they are receiving the right volts it read 13v.
After putting everything back, I proceeded to just drive it like normal when the CEL came on. I checked the code and it called for the front left O2 sensor. Over the next 3 days the CEL would come on then go off. Finally the ecu made up its mind and now the CEL is off.
I took video of the car at idle in P and in D. Please watch the whole clip b.c it take a few seconds for it to start doing it, but you'll notice it happens when the camera shakes and the lights dim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23qJjtwjU00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxzIf...ature=youtu.be
I'm out of ideas on what it could be. It either has to be that the coil or coils are going bad and giving off a weak spark. The timing is off or the tensioner is loose. Or one of the many sensors around the TB is going bad and giving off a faulty signal. Ive tried cleaning out the TB, and the MAF, but no luck.
I understand that I am new to this community and I'm not asking people to drop what they are doing to help. Any advice or anyone whose had the same problem who knows how to get this fixed would be greatly appreciated.
Last edited by SethGreen; 01-26-2012 at 08:55 PM.
01-26-2012, 09:54 PM
#2
By any chance... Does it get progressively worse when you turn the A/C on?
If so, then, welcome to my world. It's what I have going on right now, minus the light flicker. Though it does that on a minute scale every now and then...
If so, then, welcome to my world. It's what I have going on right now, minus the light flicker. Though it does that on a minute scale every now and then...
01-26-2012, 10:10 PM
#3
take some advice that was given to me: get (or make) a grounding kit. I just bought one here. Attach the grounding wires to the appropriate points on the engine.
Good grounds are essential on these cars, hell, on any car more than 10 years old the grounding points get corroded and don't act like they originally did. And good grounds make everything electronically behave.
Good grounds are essential on these cars, hell, on any car more than 10 years old the grounding points get corroded and don't act like they originally did. And good grounds make everything electronically behave.
01-26-2012, 10:20 PM
#5
The KS shouldn't make his rpms drop like they did in either of those videos he posted. I had a bad KS for 1 year, before i replaced mine, and the rpms never dropped like that. It has to be something else. Do a code check again OP and see if anything has come up.
01-26-2012, 11:04 PM
#6
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 67
Thanks for the responses everyone! The car has 170k on it. I havnt tried it with the A/C on, but it seems to do it no matter whats running. I have not checked my grounds, I'm not exactly sure where they all are. Today I drained the ecu power and completely reset it. Still no cel. I will check the ecu in the morning and see what comes up if anything.
01-27-2012, 08:35 AM
#7
Here are a couple of information links for you. This information is courtesy of another org member, Pmohr.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...E3C3345DC2C64F
Pmohr has created many "how to" videos for our cars. You mentioned disconnecting power from your ECU to erase the codes. If you watch the video titled "Checking/clearing ECU (CEL) codes" it will show you how to do that without disconnecting power.
http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Maxima/
This one will allow you to download the FSM (Factory Service Manual) for your car. The file named FWD.PDF is the cover page to the manual and you can select the appropriate section or chapter. I have renamed mine to "1997 Service Manual" so it stands out. The file named IDX.PDF is the alphabetical index if you have a specific thing to look up.
It would be helpful to read the section named GI.PDF. This is General Information and gives some useful tips on how to read and understand the manual.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...E3C3345DC2C64F
Pmohr has created many "how to" videos for our cars. You mentioned disconnecting power from your ECU to erase the codes. If you watch the video titled "Checking/clearing ECU (CEL) codes" it will show you how to do that without disconnecting power.
http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Maxima/
This one will allow you to download the FSM (Factory Service Manual) for your car. The file named FWD.PDF is the cover page to the manual and you can select the appropriate section or chapter. I have renamed mine to "1997 Service Manual" so it stands out. The file named IDX.PDF is the alphabetical index if you have a specific thing to look up.
It would be helpful to read the section named GI.PDF. This is General Information and gives some useful tips on how to read and understand the manual.
01-27-2012, 10:08 AM
#8
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 67
Thank you for the link Dennis, this will come in handy. Unfortunately the car is still having the same issues. I tried pulling any stored codes but the ecu comes up with nothing, according to it, its running fine...not the case. I made 2 videos of me giving it WOT to show the hesitation its having. I tried turning on the A/C to see if the mis at idle would be affected, it did not get worse or better, stayed the same.
Last time a car did this to me it was the MAF but I'm getting no CEL.
I also tried WOT with the O/D off but didn't change anything
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grQ7y...ature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8vzP...ature=youtu.be
Last time a car did this to me it was the MAF but I'm getting no CEL.
I also tried WOT with the O/D off but didn't change anything
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grQ7y...ature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8vzP...ature=youtu.be
01-27-2012, 02:08 PM
#10
I watched the vids...its nice to see a quiet cool VQ purring
Of course maybe your VQ had too much to drink last night with all those hiccups.
Do the grounds........but before spending money, try cleaning up the existing grounds.
1. the negative cable of the battery goes to the body and then to the motor. Unscrew and rescrew in those points. The act of unscrewing/rescrewing will dislodge rust and clean up the contacts a bit.
2. Unscrew and re-screw the big black alternator cable.
3. There are other points you can check as well....cant think of them offhand though.
If you do this and the car acts better, then you've confirmed its a grounding issue. Keep in mind that this unscrewing/screwing method doesnt last long.
I have an old honda civic, and when the grounds get tired, I get zapped alot when I touch the body getting out of the car. I do what I just described to you and the zapping goes away for like 2 months, then comes back.
Hope this helps
DW
Of course maybe your VQ had too much to drink last night with all those hiccups.Do the grounds........but before spending money, try cleaning up the existing grounds.
1. the negative cable of the battery goes to the body and then to the motor. Unscrew and rescrew in those points. The act of unscrewing/rescrewing will dislodge rust and clean up the contacts a bit.
2. Unscrew and re-screw the big black alternator cable.
3. There are other points you can check as well....cant think of them offhand though.
If you do this and the car acts better, then you've confirmed its a grounding issue. Keep in mind that this unscrewing/screwing method doesnt last long.
I have an old honda civic, and when the grounds get tired, I get zapped alot when I touch the body getting out of the car. I do what I just described to you and the zapping goes away for like 2 months, then comes back.
Hope this helps
DW
01-27-2012, 02:14 PM
#11
You could have a leak in your intake. Your injectors could be clogged or you cats could be clogged. Air, fuel and getting the by products out are the most important things for power. Its hard to tell if you have an injector problem though unless you send them off to get flow tested. Try some injector cleaner and seafoam. Some hate those products but they have their place.
01-27-2012, 02:16 PM
#12
I just watched you WOT vids......the car is supposed to be faster than that, especially since you changed the plugs.
Change the fuel filter, air filter.
I think you may have 2 issues, ground and tired O2 sensor. Try replacing just the front O2 sensor and see what happens.
My friends I30 was acting sluggish even after a complete tuneup. I changed the front O2 and his car became a bat of of hell.
O2 sensors get tired, and they dont throw a code most of the time.
DW
Change the fuel filter, air filter.
I think you may have 2 issues, ground and tired O2 sensor. Try replacing just the front O2 sensor and see what happens.
My friends I30 was acting sluggish even after a complete tuneup. I changed the front O2 and his car became a bat of of hell.
O2 sensors get tired, and they dont throw a code most of the time.
DW
01-27-2012, 02:34 PM
#13
I just watched you WOT vids......the car is supposed to be faster than that, especially since you changed the plugs.
Change the fuel filter, air filter.
I think you may have 2 issues, ground and tired O2 sensor. Try replacing just the front O2 sensor and see what happens.
My friends I30 was acting sluggish even after a complete tuneup. I changed the front O2 and his car became a bat of of hell.
O2 sensors get tired, and they dont throw a code most of the time.
DW
Change the fuel filter, air filter.
I think you may have 2 issues, ground and tired O2 sensor. Try replacing just the front O2 sensor and see what happens.
My friends I30 was acting sluggish even after a complete tuneup. I changed the front O2 and his car became a bat of of hell.
O2 sensors get tired, and they dont throw a code most of the time.
DW
Old and lazy O2s are common in older vehicles that "just don't perform like they used to". New O2 can help with gas mileage as well as better performance, since its output helps the ECU determine fuel/air mixture specs
01-27-2012, 05:08 PM
#15
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 67
Okay I'm going to replace the o 2 sensor and the mass air flow after. Question what brand of 02 sensor do I buy there are some for 44 dollars and some all the way up to 160 does it really matter? And I've priced out mass air flow sensor some range from 64 dollars new 2 200 dollars new what the hell is the difference
01-27-2012, 09:08 PM
#18
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Saint Charles, IL
Posts: 47
In my experience with other vehicles, the MAF almost always throws a code when it's not working right. Also, give it a good whack with a dead blow hammer or rap on it with a screwdriver handle (read: don't break the thing) and see if your idle clears up a bit. It certainly won't fix your problem, but sometimes giving the MAF a crack can make it function correctly for a bit.
01-27-2012, 11:09 PM
#19
In my experience with other vehicles, the MAF almost always throws a code when it's not working right. Also, give it a good whack with a dead blow hammer or rap on it with a screwdriver handle (read: don't break the thing) and see if your idle clears up a bit. It certainly won't fix your problem, but sometimes giving the MAF a crack can make it function correctly for a bit.
01-28-2012, 05:38 AM
#20
In my experience with other vehicles, the MAF almost always throws a code when it's not working right. Also, give it a good whack with a dead blow hammer or rap on it with a screwdriver handle (read: don't break the thing) and see if your idle clears up a bit. It certainly won't fix your problem, but sometimes giving the MAF a crack can make it function correctly for a bit.
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